Walden
Walden was given to 37 boys in 2025, #3,232 among boys’ names; 1,527 Americans have been recorded with it since 1908 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Walden by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Walden mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Walden is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the senses “Welshman” (walh) and “valley” (denu).
From Old English walh (“Welshman”), genitive plural wala + denu (“valley”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Walden?
#3,232 among boys’ names, 2025
Walden fell from #3,017 in 2015 to #3,232 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 20.3 to 21.7 per million.
55 babies in 2023, the peak
Walden peaked in 2023, when 55 boys were given it, #2,475 among boys’ names. The 37 births of 2025 are 67% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37 | #3,232 | 21.7 |
| 2024 | 38 | #3,208 | 22.1 |
| 2023 | 55 | #2,475 | 32.2 |
| 2022 | 36 | #3,330 | 20.6 |
| 2021 | 31 | #3,644 | 17.7 |
| 2020 | 44 | #2,802 | 25.5 |
| 2019 | 47 | #2,731 | 26.2 |
| 2018 | 54 | #2,442 | 29.7 |
| 2017 | 46 | #2,710 | 24.9 |
| 2016 | 40 | #2,986 | 21.1 |
Every recorded year (101)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 39 | #3,017 | 20.3 |
| 2014 | 28 | #3,778 | 14.6 |
| 2013 | 39 | #2,950 | 20.6 |
| 2012 | 21 | #4,670 | 11.1 |
| 2011 | 18 | #5,184 | 9.5 |
| 2010 | 18 | #5,233 | 9.4 |
| 2009 | 7 | #10,913 | 3.5 |
| 2008 | 16 | #5,750 | 7.8 |
| 2007 | 12 | #7,053 | 5.8 |
| 2006 | 9 | #8,675 | 4.4 |
| 2005 | 8 | #9,054 | 4.0 |
| 2004 | 5 | #13,125 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,591 | 4.0 |
| 2002 | 5 | #12,408 | 2.6 |
| 2001 | 6 | #10,488 | 3.1 |
| 2000 | 7 | #9,077 | 3.6 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,849 | 3.1 |
| 1996 | 7 | #7,929 | 3.7 |
| 1995 | 5 | #10,266 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,900 | 3.5 |
| 1988 | 7 | #6,391 | 3.7 |
| 1987 | 5 | #8,093 | 2.7 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,692 | 3.3 |
| 1984 | 6 | #6,285 | 3.3 |
| 1981 | 5 | #7,249 | 2.8 |
| 1980 | 6 | #6,213 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,336 | 4.1 |
| 1978 | 7 | #5,037 | 4.3 |
| 1977 | 7 | #5,106 | 4.3 |
| 1973 | 8 | #4,043 | 5.1 |
| 1972 | 9 | #3,612 | 5.6 |
| 1971 | 10 | #3,359 | 5.7 |
| 1970 | 8 | #3,823 | 4.3 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,393 | 3.4 |
| 1968 | 10 | #2,898 | 5.8 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,530 | 2.9 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,530 | 3.9 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,413 | 2.7 |
| 1964 | 9 | #3,039 | 4.5 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,310 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 9 | #3,030 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 9 | #3,089 | 4.2 |
| 1960 | 9 | #3,070 | 4.2 |
| 1959 | 9 | #3,031 | 4.2 |
| 1957 | 9 | #3,018 | 4.2 |
| 1956 | 21 | #1,762 | 9.9 |
| 1955 | 14 | #2,216 | 6.8 |
| 1954 | 18 | #1,884 | 8.8 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,701 | 5.1 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,670 | 5.1 |
| 1951 | 12 | #2,363 | 6.4 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,573 | 5.6 |
| 1949 | 11 | #2,448 | 6.2 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,020 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 12 | #2,351 | 6.6 |
| 1946 | 7 | #3,161 | 4.3 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,322 | 4.5 |
| 1944 | 13 | #2,075 | 9.5 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,067 | 9.8 |
| 1942 | 12 | #2,263 | 8.7 |
| 1941 | 16 | #1,819 | 13.0 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,474 | 8.6 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,152 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 14 | #1,973 | 12.6 |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,751 | 15.9 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,056 | 12.5 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,934 | 7.7 |
| 1934 | 8 | #2,957 | 7.7 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,533 | 10.1 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,312 | 11.5 |
| 1931 | 22 | #1,535 | 21.2 |
| 1930 | 20 | #1,691 | 18.2 |
| 1929 | 20 | #1,728 | 18.6 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,834 | 9.0 |
| 1927 | 11 | #2,696 | 9.8 |
| 1926 | 25 | #1,512 | 22.5 |
| 1925 | 18 | #1,931 | 16.1 |
| 1924 | 22 | #1,722 | 19.4 |
| 1923 | 20 | #1,808 | 18.2 |
| 1922 | 22 | #1,692 | 20.2 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,257 | 13.6 |
| 1920 | 20 | #1,816 | 18.8 |
| 1919 | 17 | #1,968 | 17.3 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,256 | 13.8 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,554 | 11.9 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,643 | 22.5 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,501 | 25.9 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,971 | 18.3 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,244 | 9.8 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,527 | 14.0 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,577 | 32.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Walden a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Walden has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 101 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Walden: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Walden, and how old are they?
An estimated 977 Americans named Walden and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (64% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 7 and 48. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 896 people named Walden (35 women and girls, 861 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 812 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,220 babies since 1880, Walden is the most given (69% of them). In 2025 it was given to 37 of their 37 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Walden
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Walden and names like it
- Compare Walden and WaldonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sWalden peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Walden since 1910.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Walden.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Walden alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.